Little Mix as your moms (With Some Ships)

Dyslexia and Autism

Dyslexia = a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but that do not affect general intelligence.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) = a developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior. Although autism can be diagnosed at any age, it is said to be a “developmental disorder” because symptoms generally appear in the first two years of life.

Hi, I'm Matteo Christian Alexander Oxlade-Chamberlain, the 13 year old and younger son of Alexander Mark David Oxlade-Chamberlain and Perrie Louise Oxlade-Chamberlain. I have a big brother named Robert Jonathan Louis Oxlade-Chamberlain who is 16.
⚠️ Contains ablelism⚠️

Matteo's POV: I was diagnosed with dyslexia at 3 years old, making school a constant struggle, especially with writing and reading.
"Matteo, can I speak to you quickly?"  My history teacher Mrs. Herring asks me as the bell rings. Everyone just teases me, making me sigh and roll my eyes. I'm used to the name-calling and teasing but it still hurts internally.
As everyone leaves for lunch, I sheepishly walk up to my teacher's desk.
"What seems to be the issue, miss?" I inquire, fiddling with my fidget toy in my hand.

"Your handwriting is absolutely horrendous, you have exams in 2 years, how on earth do you expect the exam invigilators to read that?" She raises her voice at me, showing me my book. I don't see a issue with it, none of my other teachers ever had any problems with it.
"What's wrong with it?" I ask, nervously pulling at my school jumper sleeves. She scoffs at me, dropping the book on the table.
" 'What's wrong about it?' You ask? You are being ridiculous right now! Can you not see what the issue is!?" She exclaims, sarcastically laughing at me. "I want you to go back to your seat and write lines until it's acceptable!" She pushes the book into my hands with a bit of aggresion.

I feel the tears almost about to spill as I go back to my seat, eyeing the clock on the wall.
"Stop playing with that rubbish in your hands, what even is that?!" She yells, pointing at the bin.
"It's mine, I have autism and dyslexia, miss." I tell her, honestly but she just scoffs.
"Autism, dyslexia. In my 20 years of teaching at this, I have never ever heard of such a fake excuse for that!" She mocks me, laughing and marking the other kids' work. "Put it in the bin or I'll be phoning your head of year and tell him that you're being a right ol' troublemaker!" I silently follow her orders and put my fidget in the bin.

"Now get on with those lines and I'll be right back in a second." She demands, walking out the room. I look at the clock, I'm meant to be eating my lunch that mammy made me in the cullum centre.

I pick up my pen and do my best at writing the 'correct' way but each time, it looks more and more terrible. I feel the tears escape my eyes but I wipe them away, avoiding the teacher coming back in and thinking that I'm pathetic and weak for crying.
"Matteo, what are you doing in here? Finn is waiting for you in cullum." Miss Robertson, one of the ladies whom run the cullum centre. "Why are you crying for?"
"Miss Herring was making fun of my writing and told me that my disorders don't exist and I have to write 'properly' to go to lunch." I tell her and she rubs my back, softly.
"Well, that's just horrible, isn't it?" She sympathises with me, sweetly. "Where is Miss Herring, then?" I just shrug but then we can hear her down the corridor.

"You better be doing those lines, Oxlade-Chamberlain otherwise you know what will happen!" Miss Herring tells me, reentering the classroom, not seeing Miss Robertson standing next to me.
"I believe that Matteo shouldn't be forced to write lines and I've heard that you have been making fun of his very real disabilities. Autism and dyslexia are a real thing and many kids suffer with them." Miss Robertson stands up for me, putting my stuff back into my pencilcase and putting all of my stuff in my bag.
"He deserves to be punished for one, the horrendous handwriting and these completely fake excuses! His mother should've taught him how to write and read right." Miss Herring tells Miss Robertson.

"I personally know Mr and Mrs Oxlade-Chamberlain and I know for sure, they would not be too happy to hear you say that about him. I work with children like him and they are no different to everyone else here." Miss Robertson argues back. "Come on, Matteo. Let's go, I'll tell Mr. Harris and Mr. Petersfield that you'll spend your last two lessons in the cullum centre." She picks my bag up and leads me to the cullum centre.

At the cullum centre: Finn comes up to me, he's my best friend and mammy's bandmate Jade's son. He has also got autism but also anxiety.
"Hey, Matteo. Where have you been?" He inquires, sitting next to me at the table. "I've been looking for you since the start of lunch." I just stay silent so he asks Miss Robertson. "Is Matteo okay, miss?"
"Matteo's had a really bad day, haven't you, mate? I think he just needs you to play with him for lunch." Miss tells him and he nods. I eat my lunch and the rest of the day is spent in the cullum centre.

Uncle Jordan picks me and Finn up, it's common for me to go over to Finn's house and hang out with him til my mammy is done with her work and picks me up.
"Hey, lads. How was school today?" Jordan inquires as we get into the car.
"I had a great day, daddy but Matteo not so much." Finn tells his dad and I just stay silent for the entire car ride.

A couple hours later: I've just had dinner back at home, mammy picked me up a hour ago and took me home. Daddy's not meant to be home for a while so it's just me, mammy and Robert for now.
"Mammy, can I talk to you, please?" I ask, handing her my plate.
"Yeah, of course, sweet pea what is it?" She replies, bending down after putting my plate in the sink. I am really short for my age of 13 being only 5'0.

"I have this history teacher called Miss Herring and after class, she held me back and made fun of my handwriting, autism and dyslexia. She also made me throw away the fidget toy that you got me. She was being really horrible to me and I was made to write lines til my handwriting was 'acceptable' " i tell her, getting a bit emotional.
"She did what?! I'm not allowing that, tommorow I am coming to that school and I wanna give that teacher a piece of my mind for treating you like that. You've got nothing to worry about, my little prince. Mammy or daddy will sort this meanie out for you. I'll tell daddy about this when he gets home." She tells me, protectively. "For now, how about you go watch your cartoons in the living room?" I nod before heading to the living room.

Perrie's POV: I am completely disgusted at this bitch's actions towards my son, especially making fun of his autism and dyslexia, two things that he has no control over. He's my baby and I won't let this horrendous monster of a teacher do this to him.
Alex gets home 2 hours later and I pull him into the kitchen after checking on Matteo.
"Sweetheart, can I talk to you about something really important?" Is what I ask my husband and he nods, coaxing me to go on.
"What's up, love? What's on your mind?" He tells me, coaxing me to continue.
"It's about Matteo, his teacher is bullying him. He came home and told me that his history teacher called Miss Herring was being so disrespectful towards him, making fun of his handwriting, autism and dyslexia before forcing him to write lines all alone in the classroom. And I just got off with Miss Robertson who works with him, and she gave me even more details about the situation. This is actual child abuse." I tell him and that's just when our elder son Robert appears.

"Are you on about Miss Herring, mam?" He asks me, leaning against the doorframe. "She has always been such a harsh teacher, demanding nothing but the upmost respect and didn't allow any sort of trouble in her class. She absolutely abhored me and my friends because we were the only ones whom dared to have a contradictory opinion towards history, she even threatened to beat me with a ruler occasionally. We tried to get her fired for it but since we had no proof, she got off scott free... She  is probably treating Matt like this because he's not only different to most of  the other kids there but also because she knows that he's my little brother and a Oxlade-Chamberlain."

"Then, tommorow, I'm going to that school, find that principal and remind them that you don't mess with the Oxlade-Chamberlains." Alex states. We've always been a bit overprotective over Matteo as he is quite vulnerable to all of this.

Let's just say that she didn't have a job a week after that...